It was an epic collapse for a Detroit team seemingly in control of its opponent.

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“It is tough to put a finger on what we did wrong,” Sheahan said. “Every team gets hit with some adversity. I think it’s a matter of how you react to it, and how you play through it.”

Tatar, Patrick Eaves, and Alfredsson each missed shootout attempts on goalie Tim Thomas, who finished with 26 saves. His counterpart, Jonas Gustavsson, made 33 saves, but was denied his sixth consecutive win of the year.

Coach Mike Babcock was disappointed with the loss, especially considering the Wings were up two with about six and a half minutes left. Florida outshot Detroit 15-5 in the third period as well.

“The bottom line is, we didn’t keep the puck out of our net,” Babcock said. “I thought we stopped shooting the puck a little bit in the third. We tried to be cute.

“When you’re up 4-2 should you win? Absolutely.”

Not helping matters was the fact that Detroit had its two brightest stars missing from the lineup.

Henrik Zetterberg, who leads the team with 44 points, was a late scratch with a back injury. Pavel Datsyuk missed his 10th consecutive game due to a lower body injury, and hasn’t played since the Winter Classic on New Year’s Day.

The team does not expect Zetterberg’s injury to keep him out for an extended period, but on this night it forced Johan Franzen, who was returning to the lineup after a month out, to play out of position at center.

Danny DeKeyser had a glorious chance with 3:26 left in overtime. With Thomas down, DeKeyser tried to pound the puck into the Florida cage. A Panthers defenseman slid across at the last second, keeping the puck out of the net.

Tatar got high sticked in the face by Brian Campbell in the waning moments of the third. Despite suffering a cut to the forehead that bled all over his nose, Tatar did not draw a penalty on the play.

“I was upset, but I didn’t want to put the attention on me,” Tatar said. “I ask (the official) how he can miss that when I have the puck. But, he didn’t call it, so I respect it and there’s nothing I can do.”

The Panthers roared back from a 4-2 third-period deficit to tie the game at 4-4.

Boyes capitalized on a Red Wings turnover, flew the length of the ice and ripped a shorthanded wrister past Gustavsson for Florida’s fourth goal at 16:14.

Shore made the Wings pay for another defensive skirmish, getting his team within 4-3 at 14:28 of the third period.

Shore took an excellent cross-crease pass from Tomas Fleischmann, and his wrister flew past Gustavsson.

Tatar converted a beautiful backhand feed from Sheahan at 13:33 of the third, putting Detroit ahead 4-2. Tomas Jurco also earned an assist on the play, but Sheahan’s spinning backhander set up Tatar for a perfect one-timer at close range, leaving Thomas with little chance of making the save.

Florida trimmed the Red Wings lead to 3-2 on a scramble in front of the net.

Winchester drove the net hard, picked up a loose puck, and jammed it in past Gustavsson at 9:12 of the third.

The goal came after Brendan Smith had one of his own waved off. Dan Cleary went to the front of the net and made incidental contact with Thomas as the puck was heading into the net, causing officials to wave off the goal.

Detroit built a 3-1 lead after two periods of play.

Nyquist continued his torrid pace, netting his fourth goal in as many games, tying the score at 1-1. Franzen forced a turnover by Drew Shore in the Panthers zone.

Nyquist hopped on the puck, and his knuckle-ball shot eluded Thomas at 8:12 of the second period for his ninth goal of the season.

Cleary did not get a point on the Wings’ go-ahead second goal, but his faceoff win made the play happen. He drew the puck back to Brian Lashoff, who in turn tossed it across the blue line to Brendan Smith. Smith’s one-timer went wide to the left side.

Alfredsson was in perfect position as the puck ricocheted off the dasher, and his 12th of the season couldn’t have been easier, as Thomas was out of position.

Alfredsson’s goal came at 9:31.

Sheahan scored for the second time in as many games, showing incredible touch on Detroit’s third goal.

After another faceoff win, this time by Tatar, the Wings controlled the puck during a power play. Tatar spotted Sheahan parked in front of the Florida net. Tatar tossed the puck down to Sheahan, who quickly spun around and chipped a wrist shot in at 18:15. Patrick Eaves also earned an assist on the goal.

Bergenheim took advantage of a defensive collapse to put Florida on the board first. Luke Glendening drifted too far over on the right side of the ice, allowing Bergenheim to sneak behind him. Streaking into the Detroit zone, Bergenheim took a great pass from Dmitry Kulikov, before slipping a backhander past Gustavsson at 1:48.

Detroit was almost completely void of offense in the first period. About the only quality scoring chance for the Red Wings came with seven and a half minutes left, when Alfredsson nearly deflected a puck past Thomas.